Reunion!
by ARPfics
Summary: 15 years later, a chance for a glee club reunion comes up. Now Will just has to convince the kiddies. Puck/Rachel angst, Artie/Tina fluff, Quinn/herself
1. Chapter 1

AN: Since I don't own Glee, I have no clue what might change between now and the show ends. Is it too soon to be writing this fic? LOL. This should be fun, nonetheless. Based on pairings as of Sectionals (and a little shipping XD).

* * *

You could say the story of our glee club came full circle the day a blond haired girl named Caroline walked into Arthur Abrams' Biology class, but the seeds had long been sown.

At that moment, I'm sure I was all the way on the other side of school, introducing the freshman to the finer points of Spanish. It still scares me that the kids these days don't remember 9/11 and definitely don't know anything about why those glee club trophies from 15 years ago are on display in the hallway. I've done this routine so many times by now that I don't really notice anymore.

I come alive whenever I meet a talented student like Finn or Rachel or Kurt or Mercedes. I come alive at lunch, when I got to see some of my old students and how well they were doing for themselves. I was excited all morning, anxious to catch up with the summer's news and I definitely didn't catch too many new names. As soon as possible after the lunch bell, I cut through the thick crowds, towards the staff room. My smile rose as I pulled the door open and saw the two ladies already sitting at our usual table. "Hey guys," I said, sliding into the chair next to them.

"Oh, hey," Brittany blinked, confused for a second. "Will. How was your summer?" It was still strange to see her as a teacher here, but she made a great guidance counselor, because she really cared about the kids.

"It was pretty good. Emma and I went to California for a few weeks."

"Man, I still miss her around this place," Mercedes said with a smile. She had calmed down a lot since high school and now she was one of the most popular music teachers McKinley had ever seen. I was always glad to have the help with glee club.

"She likes it over at Lima High School. Plus, I think it's good for us." I blushed a little because they all knew just how much drama I'd gone through with Terri, so me and Emma had decided to play it safe.

"No doubt," Mercedes nodded, still having problems with her on again, off again boyfriend.

"Hey, where's Artie?" I looked around. The halls were practically empty now; he should be here by now.

"You know it takes him a long time to get through the crowds." Mercedes shrugged.

"I saw him before," Brittany just looked around blankly.

I turned towards the door again and it was right in time to see Artie pushing himself through the door breathlessly. "Oh, Mr. Schue, I've been looking for you."

"Artie, great! Come join us." I laughed. "And how many times have I told you to call me Will?"

"I know, but-"

"How is she?" I chuckled, almost positive this is what he'd been anxious to tell me.

Artie sighed and raised an eyebrow, "who?"

"Your baby?"

"Oh," he shook his head. "She's great. Looks like Tina." He smiled a little. It was his third kid, but I had never seen him not like this over a new delivery. "But Mr. - I mean - Will. Quinn's kid is in my class."

"What?" All three of us shouted so loudly that a lot of the staff looked up at us. I actually stood up.

"Yeah. I mean, I'm not sure, but how many Caroline Febray's do you know?"

"Oh my - wow," I sat back down, the shook setting in. "I can't believe she's in Lima."

"Why not?" Brittany asked simply.

"I really thought she would have left after what happened..." Artie trailed off, his head shaking.

We all sat there for a few minutes in silence. Suddenly, I stood up again. "We should find her!"

"This is perfect!" Mercedes gushed with a huge grin. "Kurt just told me he's coming through town next month. He has this huge conference in Chicago, but I think he feels like he's got to see his father."

"And?" Poor Brittany didn't exactly get what was going on.

"And you know what this means?" Mercedes asked, shooting a look at Artie.

"Glee reunion!" He answered and they shot each other a high five. Even I had to smile. This could be fun.

* * *

"Vote for Finn Hudson for your State Assemblyman! Because Northwestern Ohio needs to be represented by a guy like you!" Finn was smiling and pointing at me from my TV.

"Won't you turn that junk off?" Emma laughed as she looked over from her latest crochet project: a baby blanket. She hadn't officially told me yet and my skeptical side told me not to make assumptions. Maybe it was for her cousin. Heck, maybe it was for Artie and Tina's baby. Emma always liked those two.

I clicked the remote if only for Emma's sake. How had I gotten so lucky? I never would have gone for a woman like Emma if it hadn't been for Terri and yet, Emma brought out the best in me. She was adorable at times like this, just staring at me with half an afghan in her lap. "What?" She finally asked.

I shook my head. "You think Finn will win?" I nodded at the now blank TV screen.

"I don't know, he's got a pretty good campaign going." She shrugged. "Maybe you should call him."

"How do you always read my mind?" I chuckled and crossed the room just to kiss her lightly on the forehead.

"It's pretty obvious. You've been looking at the ads again." She looked down to the newspaper and sure enough, it was open to a full page spread for Louie's Best Used Cars. There was Noah Puckerman, surrounded by polished cars and beautiful women, including Brittany and Santana. The ad had already been pulled twice from the newspaper, but it had also made Puck the most successful used car salesman in the state.

"Quinn's kid is in Artie's class."

"Really?" Her eyes grew even wider than usual and I sat down on the arm of her chair.

"Yep. And Kurt's coming home next month, so it could be the original 12 again." My mind flashed back to all the troubles, the controversy and the glory that those 12 kids faced. It would amazing to get them together again. Sure, Mercedes and Artie and Tina came over to jam every Sunday, but it wasn't the same. We'd even got Puck to join us a few times, but everyone else had begged off for various reasons. We all knew the real reason: Quinn Febray was gone and New Directions would never be the same. "Do you think we could get her back?"

Emma actually laughed at me. "No."

* * *

"That's you, isn't it, Mr. Abrams?" Caroline Febray stared into the clear glass trophy case in the front hallway of McKinley High.

"How did you know I was here?" He chuckled, wheeling himself the last few feet up to Caroline.

"I could hear your wheels squeaking." She turned towards him, but only for a second. She was studying that controversial yearbook picture that sat framed besides their 2009 and 2010 trophies.

Artie didn't need to lean closer to know that picture. "Yeah, that's me. I was kind of dorky." And really, he hadn't changed much, he admitted to himself.

Caroline chuckled a little. "My mom never told me she was in any club besides the cheerios."

He wasn't really surprised, after all that they had been through. "She's the only reason we got those trophies. We never would have gotten enough kids to qualify otherwise."

"Oh wow," she breathed and kept looking. "And that's my dad. My mom has a picture of him in her night table. What kind of club was this anyway? You guys all look so... different."

Artie's smile grew to legendary proportions. "That's a long story."


	2. Chapter 2

"Mom?" Caroline Febray burst through her front door and dumped her backpack on the floor. As usual, all the lights in their tiny apartment were on, the radio and TV blaring at the same time. She could already smell the garlic-filled mac and cheese on the stove and she smiled a little. Her mom had never been the greatest cook, but Carry couldn't complain. She knew her mom tried.

"Honey, is that you?" Quinn walked into the living room and smiled sweetly at her daughter. "How was your day? Why are you so late?"

She just shrugged. "My biology teacher kept me to go over some stuff for class."

Quinn kept the smile on her face. "That's nice. You ready for dinner?"

"Sure." Carry started to walk towards the kitchen. "I think you might know him actually. His last name is Abrams."

"Artie is your biology teacher? Really?" She raised an eyebrow. "I went to high school with him, but how did you know? You've been going through old Thunderclaps?" She laughed nervously.

"No. I saw your glee club trophy." Carry sat down expectantly. At this point, her mom would usually go to the stove to check on dinner and begin dishing it out. Instead, her mom just sort of froze. Quinn heaved and threw her head into her arms. Carry stood up in shock and walked blindly towards her mother. "Mom?"

"I did them all wrong," she breathed, shaking.

"Are you OK?" Carry tentitively reached out towards her mother.

The moment Quinn felt her daughter's touch, she shrugged away. "Just leave me alone! Just go up to your room!"

"But... what about-?"

"Just go!" Quinn gestured for her to leave, never once meeting Carry's eyes.

Confused, Carry headed out to her best friend's house.

* * *

"I'm still not sure what happened," Carry shook her head and practically ran a few steps to catch up with her friend Isabella. "Izzy, you know my mom doesn't act like that."

"I really can't believe she just flipped like that." The tall brunette knotted her eyebrows and threw her long hair over her shoulder. "But I was doing some research last night."

Izzy pulled out her iphone and quickly called up her search. "So you know how I've been following the industry for years, right? My dream is to help fashion challenged, like you, but I need to learn from somewhere. Did you know my icon, Kurt Hummel, is from this forsaken town? He went to our school! Anyway, he's gonna be in town next week and I think we should meet him. Maybe he knows what happened. I mean, he must know your mom. They're the same age."

"Why can't we just ask Mr. Abrams, or the guidance counselor?"

"No, I think Kurt will be a better choice." She smiled lightly. "Alright, mostly, I just want to meet him."

* * *

Meanwhile, I was driving down the open road, looking for a certain used car dealership. I rolled down the hood of our vintage VW Cabrio and when the wind rushed into my face, I was set free. I put one of our old glee mixes into the cd player, a smile reaching my face. In the end, they had really come through. They had done great and they could have kept that going... if not for the crazy drama that teenagers can sometimes find themselves in. Maybe this reunion could resolve some of the old pain. I sighed and smiled to myself. I was sure if anyone could pull this off, it would be me.

Puck actually laughed at me. He had a girl on each shoulder and chomped on gum. Nothing had changed since high school. "You really think I'm gonna join some stupid glee reunion? I don't mind jamming with you guys in your garage, Schue, but you're not gonna get anyone to agree to this."

"Mercedes and Artie and Tina seem pretty keen on the idea. Brittany thinks it could be fun and Mike and Matt agreed right away when I told them." I didn't add that I had found the two former football players working next to each other in the factory downtown.

"Of course they agreed!" Puck snorted. "They still have no lives. Why would I embarress myself on stage again? I have a reputation to maintain."

The girls laughed at that, for some unknown reason.

"Isn't that the same reputation you couldn't wait to show off in glee?"

Puck laughed again. "In case you haven't noticed, I don't exactly need the attention anymore." He nodded at his girls.

"Well, there's one girl I can guarantee you won't get this way."

The young man's eyes softened slightly. "She won't talk to me."

"I promise she'll listen to this. Go find her and I think you'll find that she's more than willing to talk."

* * *

"Santana?" Artie rolled himself past forests of flowers, colorful and exotic. Looking around the crowded little shop, he didn't see a soul. He shouted a little bit louder. "Hey, Santana? Is anybody here?"

"Oh, sorry, Artie." Santana frowned as she ducked out from under a huge pile of lilies. "Got a big shipment in."

"It's fine."

"You want the usual?"

"Of course," he smiled bashfully. Santana just nodded than headed towards the roses. "You know, Kurt's coming to town next week."

Santana barely blinked. "So?"

"Well, we were thinking of maybe getting together. You know, doing a show or something for old times sake."

She looked up from the flowers and raised an eyebrow. "Are you serious? You're never gonna get Quinn to do it. And Rachel? Forget about it. Definitely not."

Artie sighed. They hadn't even considered Rachel. Santana was probably right. She would never go for it, now that she was such a big 'celebrity.' "Don't worry," He smiled despite himself. "We'll convince her. Are you in, if we do?"

Santana shrugged. "Why not? Not much to lose in this town anyway."

"Great!" Artie beamed at her.

"You want these to go?" Santana held up a freshly cut and wrapped bouquet of red roses.

"As usual."

Santana held the roses for Artie as he paid and made his way out of the flower shop. He led the way to his small car. Santana carefully laid the flowers on the passenger seat. "I hope Tina likes them."

"She always does," Artie said with a smile.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thank you all for the reviews and alerts! :) I'm having a lot of fun writing this fic, so I'm glad you guys enjoy it too. It's taking me a bit longer than I expected to write, so thanks for baring with me. Also, this fic is really going in some crazy directions! Hope you like it...

* * *

"And that's how Sue sees it." Sue Sylvester held up a 'C' and nodded her head for the camera to cut away from her. She stood up and headed towards me. "Will."

"I can't believe they still let you come on this show," I said dryly.

"I cashed in my 401K and bought the whole network. Wasn't using it anyway." She shot me one of her infamous grins. "If you'll excuse me, I've got to go fire my security for letting you in."

"Just looking for Finn."

"Don't even bother." She shook her head and walked away. "I think you'll find he's a bit different than that impressionable kid you remember."

I wondered around backstage for a little bit and into the green room. He was relaxing on a couch. He had aged badly, looking like the world had done him wrong. He looked up at me, confused, "Mr. Schue? What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see your news segment. No, we want to get the glee club back together."

Finn sat there for a long moment, thinking about that. Finally, his eyes widened. "No way. Even if you get everybody else, which you won't, you can count me out. I don't want to see any of them again. Not Quinn. Not Rachel. Not any of them."

"Look, it was a stupid mistake-"

"Yeah, it was a stupid mistake ever to joint that glee club. I can't believe you ever convinced me. Oh yeah, I know about your lie about the pot. You think I'm ever gonna play into your little games? Well, you're wrong." He shot me a dangerous look.

"Finn, will you ever grow up? Why do you think this is some game?"

"I don't know. Maybe there's some competition you think we could win, like nationals." His look deepened, almost a death glare of death.

I just chuckled. "No prizes this time. I just thought you guys could get something even more valuable."

"What's that?"

"Your friendship."

He shook his head. "You might have fooled me in high school, but like I said, your pretty words won't fool me now."

* * *

Meanwhile, Puck was leaning against a wall of a dark alley, smoking a cigarette casually. A hidden stage door opened suddenly and out walked a very familiar figure, hidden by sunglasses. Puck blocked her exit and she gasped. "I give my adoring fans a performance once a month and I don't give autographs. Don't you think that's enough?"

"Why are you still in this dead end town?"

She paused and tried to glare behind his own sunglasses. "Who are you?" He took off his sunglasses. "Puck? I didn't recognize you with hair." Rachel pushed past him.

"Hey wait-"

"I don't want to talk to you."

"We're having a reunion." Puck paused. Since when had it been we?

"I know." She turned around. "Artie came by the other day. I'll tell you the same thing I told him. I'm not interested."

"Look, Rachel," he touched her sunglasses and again she gasped. He was too quick for her. Even in the dim light of the alley, he could make out the faded black eye, the scratches on her temple that no amount of stage makeup could hide. "Jeez, Rachel, who did this to you? If I eve get my hands on him, I'll kill him, I swear."

It's not what it looks like. Johnny is a good guy - he means well. After what happened to glee club, I was devastated, do you blame me? Anyway, I met him at a dark moment. My dad, you know, Robert, my real dad, was really sick and he said he'd take care of everything. He was from New York and said he had connections to the best doctors and to Broadway. I really believed him. I know it's taking some time, but I still think everything will work out. I'll be discovered soon, I'm sure."

"What are you waiting for? What happened to the girl I used to know? She was so driven that she would make sure things worked out. She wouldn't let anything or anyone get in her way. And she definitely wouldn't let something like this happen." Puck touched her cheek and she flinched away.

"You don't understand. I had to stay in Lima. First for dad and than because Johnny got a good job over at BJ's. I couldn't leave him. He's my ticket to Hollywood."

"Why are you so naive?" Puck hit the brick wall with his fist. "This guy is dragging you down. He's a jerk and I can't believe you don't realize that."

"Puck, you're the jerk here."

"What?"

"I've seen your ads. You're still the same chauvinist pig I knew in high school."

"It's just a gimmick." He wiped his neck nervously, lying. "I started that job right after high school and I was shocked when my bad attitude actually sold cars. People loved my badassness and I can't drop it now, just like you can't drop this loser you're dating."

Her eyes narrowed. "That's where you're wrong. I can change my life and get rid of Johnny. I'll hop the next train and be in New York before he even realizes I'm gone." She turned and started walking off.

"Rachel?" He followed her and she turned around. "Could you do one favor for me before you go?"

"Sure," she smiled softly.

"Do the glee reunion?"

"I would need an apology signed in blood from Quinn Febray's dead body before I would even consider it." She stalked off.

"You never know." He called after her retreating figure. "People change."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: OK, I really have to apologize. I'm having problems writing this fic. I probably started this chap like 5 times, lol. And this one is really short...

* * *

"OK, I want you to get me 2 rolls of the plaid and 4 rolls of the chenille and I want it yesterday." Kurt ordered into his cell phone, looking wearily at the maddening crowds around him. Why did he have to do these mall appearances again? He was home for literally half an hour before being wisked off to his newest store in his home town. Of course the new designs were frozen without him. The interns were incapable of making basic designs.

"Hey, Kurt!" Some young voice called at him. "I go to McKinley!" Kurt wasn't sure why he should care. When he had gone to high school, he just couldn't wait to get out of there. Kurt found the teenager in the crowd and gave her a smile. She actually jumped up and pointed to her friend. "My friend does too." Kurt's eyes moved to her friend. Quinn? No, it couldn't be. She would be just as far out of high school as Kurt, about 15 years. Quinn's kid? Oh crap.

Kurt eyed his body guard and gave him the look. That was all it took before the body guard stepped in. "OK, guys, I'm sorry, but Mr. Hummel has prior engagements. He appreciates all of your support and you will all receive 15% off all of your purchases today." The crowd cheered and filtered into the brand new store.

Meanwhile, Kurt followed the two girls with his eyes. He whispered something into the guard's ear. The guard went over to the girls and called them over to Kurt. One girl looked almost too excited, while the other one, Quinn's daughter, just kind of stood there. Kurt led them to a secluded little back room. "Hey guys," Kurt smiled and slipped off his sunglasses.

"Kurt, I can't believe it, Kurt." The dark haired girl was on edge, overly excited. Kurt would never get used to having fans.

"OK, Izzy, it's enough." Quinn's daughter chuckled lightly. "Sorry, this was her idea."

Of course it was. "You're Quinn Febray's daughter." Kurt jumped right to the point.

She just shrugged. "Yeah and?"

"Caroline. I remember now." He smiled softly.

"It's from a song," she said shortly.

Kurt chuckled and started pacing the room. "I know it's from a song. I was there."

Caroline actually gasped. "What do you mean, you were there? My dad sang that to my mom. I didn't think there was anyone there."

"Yeah, there were twelve of us there."

Cary was silent for a long moment, thinking. "The glee club."

"Yeah," Kurt nodded. "How did you know?"

"Mr. Abrams is my biology teacher and I saw your trophy. No wonder you look so familiar. When I told my mom about the glee club, she flipped."

"That's why we came!" Izzy spoke up. "We wanted to know what was going on."

"I didn't realize you had been in the glee club," Cary blushed.

"Well, I was." Kurt mumbled something under his breath. "...good riddance."

Cary wasn't sure what else to say, so she went straight out. "Mr. Abrams told me they want to do a reunion."

"I know," Kurt nodded. "I want no part of it."

"But why not? Maybe this could fix whatever happened."

Kurt looked down, shaking his head. "Nothing could fix what your mother did."

"What?" Cary was quiet. "What happened?"

"You'd better go ask your mother."


	5. Chapter 5

"If I couldn't convince Rachel, what makes you think I'll be able to convince Finn?" Artie looked up at me, Tina, Mercedes and Puck that afternoon in my garage. I had called an emergency meeting of the reunion committee after reviewing our dire results so far.

"Dude, you're our only chance," Puck looked almost depressed at this turn of events.

"He's right." Tina smiled a little at her husband, despite the serious atmosphere. "You're the only one who can pull this off."

"I still think it's a stupid idea." Artie shook his head. "Even if I can Finn to agree to this, who's to say Rachel will come around? We only have about 6 hours before Kurt leaves town." Artie looked at his watch, as if to prove his point.

"Which is exactly why you need to get going." Tina nodded encouragingly.

"Who knows when the next time we'll all be in the same town together again will be." Puck muttered. He still didn't seem so sure why he had agreed to this, but I knew. He cared a lot about a certain young woman and this might just be the last chance he would get to make things right.

Artie sighed. "What about Kurt?" He seemed to running out of excuses. He was probably the one who wanted the reunion the most out of all of them. He had gained some of his best friends, his wife and his children through the glee club and I knew he was hoping they could see the significance once again.

"I'm not too worried about him," Mercedes finally spoke up. "Whenever we talk about a reunion, he's stoked. I think he's just worried about his reputation."

"That makes two of us," Puck said bitterly.

Mercedes laughed at him. "Not much to lose in this town."

"OK, so basically, it's only Rachel and Finn left to convince." Tina said, trying to keep score.

"And Quinn." Puck's tone just wouldn't improve.

"I'll take care of her." I volunteered, suddenly knowing exactly what to say to her. "I've set up everything. We told everyone else all the details, so we're good on that account."

"You really think they'll show?" Artie looked up hopefully.

"No." And Puck actually laughed at all of us.

* * *

"Vote Finn Hudson for your state senator!" A loudspeaker announced while Finn himself walked around a crowded block party, smiling his head off. He shook hands with old men, kissed babies and sweet talked their mothers, all in hopes of getting some votes. It was a tough job, but someone had to do it.

Suddenly, the crowd broke apart to let through a man in a wheelchair. He looked sort of familiar, but Finn couldn't place him. He wore thin wire glasses and a business suit. His hair was pushed to one side professionally. "Nice to see you again, Finn."

Finn just smiled. Half the town seemed to know him, now that he was running for office. "Yeah, it's been a while, man."

"You know, you have a lot of support down at McKinley."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I think if you show your support of the school, you could get a lot of votes. I heard there's a reunion going on tonight. The whole school's gonna be there."

"Yeah," Finn nodded. "The glee club. I think it would show the town how down to earth I am."

"And don't worry. They'll all be there. We'll make sure of that."

"We?" Finn was confused, but slowly, his eyes widened. "Artie?"

The man just laughed. "About time."

"What about Rachel?" His eyes filled with some strange longing.

"She'll be there."

Finn nodded. "I'll be there."

* * *

"Mom?" Cary walked into her house that afternoon from the pouring rain. There was no answer. "Mom?"

Cary walked through the dark house. There was a faint glow from the study and Cary followed the light. Quinn sat in front of the computer, watching an old slide show, sobbing softly. Cary walked up lightly to her mother. "Mom?" she asked softly.

Quinn looked up. "It's all my fault."

Cary came closer and took the seat next to her mom. "It's the glee club, isn't it?" Cary watched as the images slid by. There was a shot of them on stage, all in blue uniforms, in the middle of a song. This faded to a casual shot of them practicing a different number. Cary took it all in and couldn't get over the one thing they all had in common, despite their different looks. They were smiling. A new picture came up, one were they were performing in wheelchairs. Even that used car salesman, Noah Puckerman, had a wide smile on his face. Somehow they had made wheelchairs fun; something that Cary was sure they'd gotten from Mr. Abrams. There were a lot of pictures of them performing, some in all black with red accents, some all wearing white. They looked like they were perfect together. "Mom, what happened?"

"I never should have done it, but I thought I had to." A new picture came up. In this one, they were all wearing matching uniforms, really nice blue ones, and they were backstage at some competition. They were all smiling nervously, like they were about to perform somewhere huge. "That's it." Quinn paused the slideshow and let Cary take in the picture. "We were all set to perform. We were nervous, but we were as ready as we were ever gonna be. I was gonna go out there with them, I swear. It was still just the 12 of us, so they needed me, needed every one of us."

"This was at Nationals, wasn't it?"

Quinn just nodded. "I still don't know exactly how we beat Vocal Adrenaline, but we did. Anyway, right before we were gonna go on, I got a call from my parents' house. I thought something was wrong with you. I don't know what I thought." She cried as outside, the heavens wept along side her. "I didn't recognize the voice on the other end, but they said I had to come home right away. I don't know why I believed her, but I left. I left without even saying goodbye to the glee club. I know now that I should have talked to them. They would have told me to wait a little bit, but I didn't think I could wait. I left them and when the curtain rose, they couldn't perform. They were immediately disqualified."

Cary gasped and held her mother. "What was wrong at home?"

"That was the craziest thing. When I got home, they just thought I was crazy and didn't know anything about the phone call." Thunder struck down loudly, somewhere close by. "How I wish I could undo it all. I wish I could just make it up to them."

The doorbell rung and Cary ran to get it. Outside, I stood soaked to the bone. I smiled at the young girl who open the door. "Is your mother here?" I looked up to find her standing a bit down the hall, as if expecting me. "You can make it up to them." And she just nodded, as if she'd known I would come.


	6. Chapter 6

I held my breath, looking out at the crowded auditorium from the wings. It seemed as if half of Lima had shown up to this last minute show. I smiled; I had done good. The four people behind me did not look quite as thrilled.

"I knew they wouldn't show up." Tina said softly.

"Don't get down just yet." Artie replied optimistically, squeezing her hand a bit. "They'll come."

The audience was getting restless, so Figgins went out and made a really long speech about the importance of community and so forth. Towards the end, Mike and Matt showed up, apologizing because they'd had to work late and gotten stuck in traffic. Artie bravely volunteered to perform some of his Def Jam poetry next. We all agreed, not quite ready to give up. Santana showed up at about that time, smiling, happy to be fashionably late. Puck wandered in a short while later, looking like he really didn't want to be there. It was than I realized that none of them were dressed for a performance. The four survivors were wearing nice clothes, but the rest were just in street clothes. Mike and Matt still wore their stained work shirts. "You guys should change," I looked at the eight members that surrounded me.

They all nodded. "The old customes are still in the drama closet," Mercedes said. "I saw them last week when we were pulling out the props for the musical."

I nodded, having seen them myself. "So go, you guys. I'll stay here."

"What about Artie?" Tina looked towards the stage. It looked like the man was running out of lines.

"I've got it." I let out a low holler to Artie, who looked over at me desperately. I waved him over and took the stage myself. I started talking about the original glee club and really pulled stuff out of no where. A few minutes later, the glee kids returned, smiling. Finn and Kurt were with them now, but Rachel and Quinn were nowhere to be seen. "Ladies and gentleman, without further ado, I present you, New Directions, the class of 2012!"

They slowly took the stage, smiling widely. Artie rolled himself over to the band and picked up his guitar. The rest of the group took their places for their favorite song. As I walked back to the wings, someone bumped into me. I looked up and nodded. "Rachel." I knew she would come.

She smiled softly. "Don't expect this to become a regular thing."

I just laughed and ushered her on stage. They were all ready. They waited a second too long before Finn didn't have a choice anymore and started his line. Exactly when the everyone else came in, she slid onto stage, as if by magic. The words fit perfectly; they all needed each other's love... They went on to do one of their best performances ever of "Somebody to Love." Throughout the song, I couldn't help noticing that they were all giving Quinn supporting looks. They didn't even have to speak to know that this song was saying what they could not. They would be there for each other, even in the worst of times. Even though Quinn hadn't realized that at the time, the whole club admitted defeat rather than replacing her or oustricising her. They would have been there for her right after Nationals, if she had asked. Too long had passed in silence, but this one song more than made up for it.  
New Directions came off of the stage cheering. We all fell into the wings and we felt like a team again. Quinn looked up at her glee friends with tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry, you guys."

"It's OK. We understand now why you did it." Finn nodded compassionately.

"Yeah," Tina chimed in. "I would do the same thing if I got a call like that about any of my kids."

"It was a long time ago." Puck said softly.

Mercedes smiled widely. "We should all really keep in touch."

They all grumbled some excuse, but quickly caught themselves and laughed. "Of course. We'll always be New Directions." Artie said optimistically.

"Maybe this means we can all be friends again." Rachel said carefully, looking up at Puck longingly.

"I was never friends with you in the first place." Puck said, but his huge smile betrayed his true feelings for all of them.


End file.
